Lady Tigers fall in 3-A West regionals

JACKSON -- Shanda Post missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer for Lander Valley High School to propel Mountain View to a 48-45 victory vs. on Saturday ...

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JACKSON -- Shanda Post missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer for Lander Valley High School to propel Mountain View to a 48-45 victory vs. on Saturday morning in a must-win Class 3-A West regional girls basketball consolation game at Jackson Hole High School.
The Tigers were down 40-24 in the third quarter and pulled to within 42-41 late in the final quarter but couldn't pull out the victory to end their season one-game short of the state tournament.
The win put Mountain View into the state tournament set for Wednesday through Saturday in Casper. LVHS hasn't been to the state tournament in three years.
"That is the best win that we have had at Mountain View since I have been here," said Mountain View girls head coach Dustin Rees, who has been the head coach the past five years. "We had Lander on a good day to play them."
LVHS began the double-elimination tournament beating Pinedale 73-64 on Thursday. LVHS fell to Star Valley 63-51 on Friday night in one of the semifinals. LVHS entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed from the Class 3-A West conference.
"Lander had a tough game on Thursday and a very hard game on Friday," Rees said. "I don't want to take anything away from my girls, because we hit some shots that we usually don't hit. "
Mountain View 48, LVHS 45
(Saturday)
Mountain View set the tempo early in the game with a state-tournament berth on the line. Mountain View built a 26-15 lead on a 3-pointer from McKinna Salsbury. The Tigers trimmed the lead to 28-22 on a 3-pointer from Ali Ragan to head into the break on some momentum.
Mountain View started the third quarter going inside to Stephanie Smith, and the 6-foot-5 center delivered with four points to keep her squad ahead at 28-34. Her sister, Emily Smith, plays basketball for Central Wyoming College.
LVHS closed the third quarter on a 8-0 run on 3-pointers from Kristi Ragan and Shanda Post, along with two free throws from Ali Ragan making the scoreboard read 40-32.
A field goal by Kaylynn Cox-Mantlo cut the lead to 42-38 with six minutes left in regulation. Stephanie Smith scored four key points keeping her squad in front at 46-41 to hold off the Tigers.
"We slowed down on offense and we stopped making our shots," said Rees on why it became close at the end. "We knew that Lander was going to make a run sometime during the game.
Smith had game-high honors at 14 points. Post finished with 12 points, while Kristi Ragan dropped in 10 points.
"Stephanie did a good job in the paint making some shots," Rees said.
Rees said Smith doesn't have any plans to play college basketball after this year.
Star Valley 63, Lander 51
(Friday)
Star Valley came into the regional field as one of the favorites to battle for the crown, and they played like it Friday night.
The Lady Braves were up 21-10 after the first eight minutes. LVHS made the adjustments to outscore Star Valley 20-16 in the second period. Star Valley started the third period up 37-30 and controlled the second half inside and out for the win.
Chris Clinger (17 points), Lexi Erickson (16 points) and Hailey Greenwood (13 points) all scored in double figures for Star Valley.
Post and Kristi Ragan had 14 points apiece for LVHS.
LVHS 73. Pinedale 64
(Thursday)
"We were making shots in the fourth quarter and got to the free throw-line more," said LVHS coach Spike Robinson.
Lander's two inside players, Swenson and Kaylynn Cox-Mantlo, both stepped up in the second half.
"Our big girls played terrific," Robinson said.
Kristi Ragan led four players in double digits at 20 points. Post and Cox-Mantlo dropped in 14 points each, and Swenson ended up with 13.
Star Valley 63, LVHS 51
SVHS 21 16 10 16 -- 63
LVHS 10 20 12 9 -- 51
Lander -- Ali Ragan 1 (1) 2-2 5, Shanda Post 3 (2) 2-4 14, Kristi Ragan 5 4-4 14, Mallory Swenson 4 0-0 8, Kaylnn Cox-Mantlo 2 0-0 4, Keesha Rowan 2 2-2 6. Totals 16 (3) 10-12 51.
Star Valley -- Christy Clinger 3 (2) 0-1 17, Lexi Erickson 8 0-0 16, Hailey Greenwood 5 (1) 0-2 13, Ashley Hall 1 2-2 4, Cortland Jenkins 4 0-0 8, Jenna Roberts (1) 0-0 3. Totals 20 (7) 2-6 63.
Mountain View 48, LVHS 45
MVHS 18 7 15 8 -- 48
LVHS 14 8 10 13 -- 45
Lander -- Ali Ragan (1) 4-4 7, Shanda Post 2 (2) 2-3 12, Kristi Ragan 3 (1) 1-4 10, Mallory Swenson 3 3-3 9, Kaylynn Cox-Mantlo 1 1-2 3, Keesha Rowan 1 2-2 4. Totals 12 (4) 13-18 48.
Mountain View -- Cailen Gibbs 1 0-0 2, Cami Micheli (2) 0-0 6, Halee Salsbury 3 0-0 6, McKinna Salsbury 3 (1) 2-4 11, Stephanie Smith 7 0-0 14, Marissa Vitt 3 0-0 6. Totals 17 (3) 2-4 48.